A multi-layer software controlled antenna. A radiating patch is provided over a variable dielectric constant (VDC) plate. Variable DC potential is applied across the VDC plate to control the effective dielectric constant at various locations of the VDC plate. RF signal is coupled between a feed patch and a delay line, and the delay line couples the RF signal to the radiating patch. The radiating patch, VDC plate, delay line, and feed patch are each provided at a different layer of the antenna, so as to decouple the RF and DC signal paths. A controller executes a software program to thereby control the variable DC potential applied across the VDC plate, thereby controlling the operational characteristics of the antenna.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An antenna comprising: an insulating substrate; a plurality of conductive patches provided on top surface of the insulating substrate; a top insulator provided over the conductive patches; a plurality of resonator patches provided over the top insulator, each in alignment with one of the conductive patches, and each of the resonator patches being larger than the conductive patches; a plurality of delay lines provided below the insulating substrate, and each coupling RF signal to a corresponding patch of the plurality of conductive patches; a ground plane provided below the delay line, the ground plane comprising a plurality of apertures therein; and, a plurality of feed lines, each having terminus end thereof registered to be aligned below one of the plurality of apertures, so as to capacitively couple RF signal to a corresponding delay line of the plurality of delay lines.
2. The antenna of claim 1 , further comprising a variable dielectric constant (VDC) layer provided between the delay lines and the ground plane.
3. The antenna of claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of vias, each making electrical contact to one of the conductive patches and one of the delay lines.
4. The antenna of claim 2 , wherein two of the plurality of delay lines are connected to each corresponding conductive patch, and are oriented orthogonally to each other.
5. The antenna of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of feed lines comprises: a plurality of transmission feed lines, each coupling RF signal to one of the two of the plurality of delay lines; and, a plurality of reception feed lines, each coupling RF signal to the other of the two of the plurality of delay lines.
6. The antenna of claim 4 , further comprising a plurality of coupling patches, each provided in proximity to a corresponding one of the plurality of conductive patches thereby capacitively coupling RF signal therebetween; and wherein each of the plurality of coupling patches is connected to one of the two of the plurality of delay lines.
7. The antenna of claim 4 , wherein one of two of the plurality of delay lines is connected to respective conductive patch via a physical conductive contact and the other of the two of the plurality of delay lines is coupled to the conductive patch via capacitive coupling.
8. The antenna of claim 1 , wherein terminus end of each of the feed lines extends beyond the corresponding aperture a distance D of about half of wavelength of RF signal traveling in the feed lines.
9. The antenna of claim 8 , wherein a terminus end of each of the delay lines extends beyond the corresponding aperture a distance E of about half of wavelength of RF signal traveling in the delay lines.
10. An antenna comprising: a top dielectric; a bottom dielectric; a variable dielectric constant (VDC) plate positioned between the top dielectric and bottom dielectric; a conductive ground having a plurality of apertures; and, a plurality of radiating arrangements, wherein each of the radiating arrangements comprises: a radiating patch provided on the top dielectric; at least one control line; two delay lines coupled to the conductive patch orthogonally, one of the two delay lines being coupled to the radiating patch via a physical conductive contact and the other of the two delay lines being coupled to the conductive patch via capacitive coupling; two feeding lines each coupling RF energy to one of the two delay lines.
11. The antenna of claim 10 , wherein the capacitive coupling comprises a coupling patch provided next to the radiating patch.
12. The antenna of claim 10 , further comprising a top insulator provided over the radiating patches and a plurality of resonating patches provided over the top insulator.
13. The antenna of claim 12 , wherein each of the resonating patches is larger than the radiating patch.
14. The antenna of claim 10 , wherein one of the two feeding lines is a transmission line and the other of the two feeding lines is a reception line.
15. The antenna of claim 14 , wherein the radiating patch is rectangular.
16. An antenna comprising: a variable dielectric constant (VDC) plate having variable dielectric constant material therein; a plurality of radiating patches provided over the VDC plate; a plurality of delay lines, each two delay lines of the plurality of delay lines being orthogonally coupled to a corresponding radiating patch; a plurality of phase shift control lines individually coupled to DC potentials, each of the phase shift control lines corresponding to one of the delay lines; a conductive ground plane; and, a plurality of feed lines forming a corporate feed, each two feed lines of the plurality of feed lines orthogonally coupling RF energy to a corresponding radiating patch.
17. The antenna of claim 16 , wherein one of the two delay lines being coupled to the radiating patch via a physical conductive contact and the other of the two delay lines being coupled to the conductive patch via capacitive coupling across a dielectric space.
18. The antenna of claim 16 , wherein each of the feed lines being coupled to the radiating patch via one of the delay lines.
19. The antenna of claim 16 , wherein the corporate feed capacitively couples RF energy to each of the delay lines.
20. The antenna of claim 16 , further comprising a plurality of resonator patches provided over the plurality of radiating patches, each of the resonator patches being in alignment with one of the radiating patches, and each of the resonator patches being larger than the conductive patches.
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December 9, 2019
August 11, 2020
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